Verizon asks Comcast to halt

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Verizon (NYSE:VZ) sent a letter to Comcastt (NASDAQ:CMCSA,CMCSK) last week asking it to stop the Eric Rabe, Verizon’s senior vice presidentf for media relations, said Wednesday. “Wer have had conversations with themthat haven’rt resulted in them takinb the ads down, but at least we’r having conversations,” Rabe said. Rabe said he didn’t know if Verizon would sue Comcast ifit doesn’ stop the ads, which have a tagline of, “Don’ft Fall for FiOS.” “There’s the National Advertisinhg Division of the Better Business Bureau that we’ve sometimes used to resolvwe issues like this,” he said.
Comcast spokeswoman Jennifed Khourysaid "Verizon’s been running a negativs campaign against Comcast for yeard and its response to our campaign shows that they can dish it out but they can’ t take it. As might be expected, the bette the advertising and the more traction that it gains with the louder the competitorwill object." The ads are the lates t escalation of a battle between New York-based Verizon and Philadelphia-based Comcastt that has grown more intensew over the past few years as the two communications companies have moved onto each other’sx turf.
Comcast was originally a cable-televisioh company and Verizon was originally a localphone company, but now both offer video, Internet and local-and-long distance phone servicew and are competing head-to-head for residential customers. Verizon has been runningh commercials featuring comedian Matt McCarthg as a cable service technician having encounters with a Verizon FiOS butthey don’t mention Comcast by name. , comparde notes on their appointments that day and discoverthat they’rew going to the same placeds — FiOS Guy to install service and McCarthh to disconnect it.
feature a cheery, bull-headed service technician who interpretsw anything people say as an indication that they want him toinstallo FiOS. In one ad, that leads to him summonin g an earth mover to digup someone’s lawn and sendingt a fork-lift to the person’s house to carrty the FiOS bill. “Thesde ads have people rippingup property, putting livews in danger and suggestinfg that this is typical of FiOS installations,” Rabe said.
“Thar is an outrageous characterization and it hasto